When Will We Know if Revolution, Almost Human, Intelligence, Dracula, and Other Genre Shows Will Get Renewed or Cancelled?

We only have about one month left in the current season, and there are quite a number of sci fi / fantasy shows that we have yet to hear word on whether they will get cancelled or renewed. Actually, there are only two genre shows that we know for certain have been cancelled, Syfy’s Being Human, and ABC’s Once Upon A Time in Wonderland. And the latter did not receive an official cancellation announcement that I am aware of, the network just referred to the show’s final episode as its “series finale” (supposedly it was always intended for a limited run, but we know they build in the option to keep a show going if the ratings are good). The networks in general have been rather reluctant to issue cancellation notices this season, possibly because of the overall ratings declines that we have seen. They likely want to hedge their bets until the very last minute before making decisions on some of these shows.

So the question many sci fi fans are asking themselves right now is when will they know for certain if their favorite show is coming back for another season?

The fact is that we already know of several renewals (see list below) as three of the Big Four broadcast networks (CBS, FOX, and NBC) have secured several of their better performing shows. ABC has yet to make any early renewal announcements, but when it does get around to that expect Once Upon A Time to be included on the returning list. That leaves us with an even dozen genre shows that we are still waiting on news of their fates.

Breaking announcements could come at any time and the networks typically prefer to release the cancellation notices on Fridays (Network Executioner Day). But it does appear they want to keep their decisions under wraps as long as possible and we may not receive any definite news until right before the upfronts. That is when the networks present their schedules for the coming season to their sponsors and they have to have everything tidied up by then (for the most part, last year the renewal announcement for Hannibal did not come until after the upfronts). Following are the dates when each of the broadcast networks will make their presentations and they typically release their schedules prior to that (sometimes by as much as a week or more):

NBC – Monday, May 12
FOX – Monday, May 12
ABC – Tuesday, May 13
CBS – Wednesday, May 14
CW – Thursday, May 15

By these dates, we should know what shows are returning as well as the new shows that will be on the networks’ schedules for the coming year. Note that some shows may not get an official cancellation announcement, they just may not be included on next season’s schedule which amounts to a defacto axing. This could very well be the case with Dracula which was another of those “limited run” shows. Just know this, if you do not see your favorite show included on next season’s schedule and there is no word of it possibly returning as a mid-season replacement, then consider it gone.

Below is the full list of this season’s shows with their current Cancellation Alert status. I will be looking closer at the chances of those shows still waiting for news on their fate in the next week’s edition of the Sci Fi TV Power Rankings. And keep a close eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter site for breaking news over the next few weeks.

Sci Fi / Fantasy Shows Still Waiting (with their Cancellation Alert Status):

(Cancellation Alert statuses from least likely to be cancelled to most likely: Low, Moderate, Medium, Elevated, High)

Cancelled/Ending Shows:

Renewed Shows: